A long commercial masquerading as a film

Rating: 6/10 (17 October 2006)

In the future everyone wears Puma, drinks Aquafina and drives a GM car. Yeah it's the year 2050 but car design must have hit a standstill as everyone seems to be driving a slightly modded Chrysler 300.
Underneath the blatant product placement (trumped only by Wayne's World and that was supposed to be a joke) there is a decent Sci-fi film. The premise and over-all plot are actually pretty good.
It is the not so distant future where cloning has risen to the point where the rich can clone themselves, essentially making a back up in case anything goes wrong. The only problem is the corporation making the clones has lied to the world about their level of consciousness. Eventually the clones start asking questions and it isn't too long until the lead characters stumble on to the secret and must run for their lives.
As a sci-fi film the Island does an OK job of presenting a future. The sets themselves are quite good, especially the giant cloning complex. It fails to convince though due to the presence of so many current products. It's as if the producers said, there is no way this movie will make any cash, let's load it up with advertising.
If you're looking for the next Blade Runner you probably already know that this is not it. If you are thinking of watching it for free on demand and it's either this or I-Robot, pick the Island.